- Apr 2, 2008
- 26,510
- 14,839
I was reading through the “top 5 GM thread” that was recently posted and was surprised at the lack of mentions of Bill Armstrong and the incredible job he’s done for UTA/ARZ. I looked through his trade history again and what stood out to me is how good his first offseason as GM was back in 2021. Thought I would provide a break-down here, as it's amazing how much value he added in a single off-season for his club by weaponizing his cap space, selling high on the right players and smartly managing his assets:
Trades:
July 17:
Took on Andrew Ladd's contract in exchange for a 2021 2nd, 2022 2nd and a 2023 3rd
Ladd played a year and then LTIRetired. One of the 2nds ended up turning into JJ Moser, the 3rd turned into Tanner Ludtke, and the other 2nd was in the package traded to move up in the 2022 draft to take Conor Geekie.
July 17:
Traded Adin Hill to the Sharks for a 2022 2nd
This is perhaps the only trade Armstrong made that was questionable, even if it got a lot of praise at the time for the value. Hill wasn’t a high-end goalie prospect, but he had good numbers at every level and had 3 straight years of solid NHL play in limited action. The Sharks ended up trading Hill to the Knights after a single season for only a 4th, but I wouldn’t call it a win for Armstrong despite getting more than they did. The 2nd was used on Julian Lutz.
July 22:
"Took on" Shayne Gostisbehere for a 2022 2nd
Ghost put up 82 points in 134 games for the Yotes, fully earning his 4.5M cap hit and only 3.25M average salary over those 2 years. The 2022 2nd turned into Artyom Duda. He also later got a 2026 3rd trading Gostisbehere to the Canes at the 2023 deadline.
July 23
Traded OEL and Conor Garland for the 9th OVR pick, a 2022 2nd, Louie Eriksson, Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel
Added several bad short-term contracts to get out of a worse long-term deal. Had to also retain a million on OEL to facilitate the deal. Since the Canucks bought him out two years after the trade it's now costing UTA even less. More importantly, the picks received were turned into Dylan Guenther and Jack McBain.
July 26
Took on Anton Stralman to get Vladislav Kolyachonok and a 2024 2nd
Getting a prospect recently drafted in the 2nd and a future 2nd for a 1 year cap dump was good value. The 2024 2nd was just used to take Will Skahan.
July 28
Traded Darcy Kuemper to Colorado for Conor Timmins, 2022 1st and a 2024 3rd
Got pretty solid value for Kuemper, who was a year away from UFA. I really liked Timmins as a prospect back in 2021. Still think he would have ended up a top 4 D if he were able to stay healthy, but he’s literally only played a little over 2 seasons worth of games since being drafted 7 years ago. The 2022 1st was later used for a small trade up to take Maveric Lamoureux, who looks like a top 4 RD in the making. The 2024 3rd was just used on Tomas Lavoie. Also worth noting that trading Kuemper (and Hill to a lesser extent) probably helped the Yotes suck enough to draft their future #1 center Logan Cooley in 2022, which absolutely should have been a factor in the decision to trade him.
July 28
Traded Lane Pederson for a 2024 4th
Sold high on a guy with limited upside. 2024 4th was used on Gregor Bieber.
Sep 4
Traded Christian Dvorak to the Canadiens for a 2022 1st and 2024 2nd
Sold high on Dvorak and took advantage of a desperate Habs team that had just lost Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet and needed a replacement center. The 2022 1st ended up being 27th OVR and was the main piece in the package of picks to move up to take Geekie. The 2024 2nd was later traded for Sean Durzi, who’s been a nice pickup for them.
Draft:
Normally I am of the opinion that GMs get far too much praise/blame for their team’s drafting, when most of the time it is the scouting staff that determines who the team takes, but in this case it’s important to note that Armstrong overhauled the scouting staff soon after being hired. He added Tampa Bay’s Assistant Director of Scouting Darryl Plandowski and Buffalo’s former Head of Scouting Ryan Jankowski in October 2020 to be their Associate Heads of Amateur Scouting. Both have done a great job since being hired, particularly in the 2021 draft, where they walked away with Dylan Guenther, Josh Doan, JJ Moser, Ilya Fedotov and Sam Lipkin, in what was largely considered a terribly weak draft.
Signings:
Not much to mention, which is good! Instead of wasting his team’s valuable cap space on free agents that the team did not need, as it was about to go through a full tear down rebuild, he used Arizona’s very limited spending money to acquire loads of futures by taking advantage of teams who put themselves in cap trouble.
Summary:
In a single off-season he added Guenther, Moser, Doan, Lipkin, Fedotov, Timmins, Kolyachonok, Gostisbehere, 6 future 2nd round picks and 4 future 3rds/4ths, and all it cost in terms of real assets was OEL (addition by subtraction given his contract), Kuemper, Dvorak, Garland, Hill and Pederson.
It’s one of the best off seasons a GM has had in a long time. Armstrong added an incredible amount of young talent to the organization by weaponizing his cap space, selling high on the right players and nailing it on draft day.
Of course Armstrong also continued his excellent work in future years, but it’d take too long to list all his moves since becoming GM. Still he’s the biggest reason why UTA/ARZ went from being in arguably the worst state of any team in the league after the disastrous John Chayka era to a team with one of the best outlooks only 4 years later. Think the dude needs more recognition for his fine work, none better than his 2021 off-season.
Trades:
July 17:
Took on Andrew Ladd's contract in exchange for a 2021 2nd, 2022 2nd and a 2023 3rd
Ladd played a year and then LTIRetired. One of the 2nds ended up turning into JJ Moser, the 3rd turned into Tanner Ludtke, and the other 2nd was in the package traded to move up in the 2022 draft to take Conor Geekie.
July 17:
Traded Adin Hill to the Sharks for a 2022 2nd
This is perhaps the only trade Armstrong made that was questionable, even if it got a lot of praise at the time for the value. Hill wasn’t a high-end goalie prospect, but he had good numbers at every level and had 3 straight years of solid NHL play in limited action. The Sharks ended up trading Hill to the Knights after a single season for only a 4th, but I wouldn’t call it a win for Armstrong despite getting more than they did. The 2nd was used on Julian Lutz.
July 22:
"Took on" Shayne Gostisbehere for a 2022 2nd
Ghost put up 82 points in 134 games for the Yotes, fully earning his 4.5M cap hit and only 3.25M average salary over those 2 years. The 2022 2nd turned into Artyom Duda. He also later got a 2026 3rd trading Gostisbehere to the Canes at the 2023 deadline.
July 23
Traded OEL and Conor Garland for the 9th OVR pick, a 2022 2nd, Louie Eriksson, Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel
Added several bad short-term contracts to get out of a worse long-term deal. Had to also retain a million on OEL to facilitate the deal. Since the Canucks bought him out two years after the trade it's now costing UTA even less. More importantly, the picks received were turned into Dylan Guenther and Jack McBain.
July 26
Took on Anton Stralman to get Vladislav Kolyachonok and a 2024 2nd
Getting a prospect recently drafted in the 2nd and a future 2nd for a 1 year cap dump was good value. The 2024 2nd was just used to take Will Skahan.
July 28
Traded Darcy Kuemper to Colorado for Conor Timmins, 2022 1st and a 2024 3rd
Got pretty solid value for Kuemper, who was a year away from UFA. I really liked Timmins as a prospect back in 2021. Still think he would have ended up a top 4 D if he were able to stay healthy, but he’s literally only played a little over 2 seasons worth of games since being drafted 7 years ago. The 2022 1st was later used for a small trade up to take Maveric Lamoureux, who looks like a top 4 RD in the making. The 2024 3rd was just used on Tomas Lavoie. Also worth noting that trading Kuemper (and Hill to a lesser extent) probably helped the Yotes suck enough to draft their future #1 center Logan Cooley in 2022, which absolutely should have been a factor in the decision to trade him.
July 28
Traded Lane Pederson for a 2024 4th
Sold high on a guy with limited upside. 2024 4th was used on Gregor Bieber.
Sep 4
Traded Christian Dvorak to the Canadiens for a 2022 1st and 2024 2nd
Sold high on Dvorak and took advantage of a desperate Habs team that had just lost Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet and needed a replacement center. The 2022 1st ended up being 27th OVR and was the main piece in the package of picks to move up to take Geekie. The 2024 2nd was later traded for Sean Durzi, who’s been a nice pickup for them.
Draft:
Normally I am of the opinion that GMs get far too much praise/blame for their team’s drafting, when most of the time it is the scouting staff that determines who the team takes, but in this case it’s important to note that Armstrong overhauled the scouting staff soon after being hired. He added Tampa Bay’s Assistant Director of Scouting Darryl Plandowski and Buffalo’s former Head of Scouting Ryan Jankowski in October 2020 to be their Associate Heads of Amateur Scouting. Both have done a great job since being hired, particularly in the 2021 draft, where they walked away with Dylan Guenther, Josh Doan, JJ Moser, Ilya Fedotov and Sam Lipkin, in what was largely considered a terribly weak draft.
Signings:
Not much to mention, which is good! Instead of wasting his team’s valuable cap space on free agents that the team did not need, as it was about to go through a full tear down rebuild, he used Arizona’s very limited spending money to acquire loads of futures by taking advantage of teams who put themselves in cap trouble.
Summary:
In a single off-season he added Guenther, Moser, Doan, Lipkin, Fedotov, Timmins, Kolyachonok, Gostisbehere, 6 future 2nd round picks and 4 future 3rds/4ths, and all it cost in terms of real assets was OEL (addition by subtraction given his contract), Kuemper, Dvorak, Garland, Hill and Pederson.
It’s one of the best off seasons a GM has had in a long time. Armstrong added an incredible amount of young talent to the organization by weaponizing his cap space, selling high on the right players and nailing it on draft day.
Of course Armstrong also continued his excellent work in future years, but it’d take too long to list all his moves since becoming GM. Still he’s the biggest reason why UTA/ARZ went from being in arguably the worst state of any team in the league after the disastrous John Chayka era to a team with one of the best outlooks only 4 years later. Think the dude needs more recognition for his fine work, none better than his 2021 off-season.
